“Oh, dear. Are you certain it is not part of a ruse to break the engagement?”
“Do you really think I would take a man that would treat my dearest friend with such a public humiliation?” Sophie snapped. “Poor Melissa has feelings for him, I am sure of it.”
“Admit it, Sophie. You are primarily incensed because he appears to have gone back to Lady Manwaring in your absence. If that is the case, I do not blame you.”
“How could I have misjudged him so?” Sophie asked, her voice cracking on a sob. “I thought our love was a one in a million love and that he had truly changed. I gave him my trust, Fan, not just my love. I was so na?ve.”
“Well, since Buck is not here, I can give vent to my dismay and say that Frank is a shockingly loose screw.”
“Fan!” Sophie was startled for only a moment. “I think that describes Frank to perfection.”
As usual, Fanny knew how to shock her out of her melancholy. Sophie was even able to eat her luncheon. Afterward, she said, “I feel I should call on Melissa. Would you please come with me?”
“If I can bring Alexa.”
“Of course. Alexa will brighten everyone’s day.”
~~*
Melissa’s drawing room was full of callers, and her friend was chattering nineteen to the dozen. This told Sophie that Melissa was madly fending off distress. Frank’s open shaming of her the night before was obviously the latest on dit. With another flash of anger, she realized that Frank had put Melissa in this false position by engaging her help to find Sophie’s chamber in the first place. Though Sophie had considered it the height of romance at the time, it was truly ill-considered.
She made her way to her friend’s side, saying, “Excuse me, ma’am,” to the dowager who sat at Melissa’s side. “I have just returned to London and am full of news for Lady Melissa.”
The dowager removed herself from her place, looking down her nose at Sophie. “Forward gel.”
“Melissa! I have so much to tell you. It looks as though we have found a place for the Orphans’ School.”
Her friend blinked.
Sophie continued. “It is to be in Chipping Norton. Or actually, just outside the village.” She continued a spirited monologue that covered every last detail of their plans. By the time she had finished, most of the ill-bred, avaricious callers had disappeared.
When the last guest finally left, a fair haired, extremely handsome man was announced as Lord Oaksey. Sophie remembered the day that now seemed so long ago when Melissa had waltzed around this very room with this man’s bouquet for a partner.
“I must get back, Melissa dear,” she said. “I just wanted to assure myself that you are well. I leave you in Lord Oaksey’s care.”
She and Fanny, who had been displaying her daughter to all and sundry, quietly left and returned home.
{ 32 }
FRANK KNEW THAT HE WAS THE SUBJECT of unfavorable gossip all over town. He was anxious that Sophie not hear the gossip before he could explain himself. He had been paying an urchin to watch for Sophie’s return to the Deals.’ Hoping he would arrive before the chatter, he called upon her the morning after she arrived and was told that she was rehearsing. He called again after luncheon and was told she had gone out. The third time he called, his card was taken up, but Perkins returned to say that Miss Edwards was not at home to visitors.
His heart sank to his boots. He asked to see the marchioness and was subsequently admitted to the afternoon parlor—a sunny yellow room overlooking the street.
“Good afternoon, Fanny,” he said. She looked up from what appeared to be her embroidery of a baby dress.
“Frank, you are in the suds,” Fanny replied, giving him her hand. “Sophie is quite furious with you.”
“What has she heard?” he asked.
“That you were at Westhaven’s rout, dangling after Lady Manwaring, with your fiancée standing not five feet away.”
“If that were true, she would have every right to be angry with me. However, Lady Manwaring was forcing her attentions on me. The rout was an absolute crush, the way these routs always are, and I had no idea that Lady Melissa was standing so close or I would have made an immediate effort to explain that things were not as they appeared.”
“But you did try to explain?”
“Yes. And I would lay odds that she agreed with me. However, she said the truth did not matter at that point, as the ton believed her to be overtly and purposefully scorned and that we had become the latest on dit.”